Die-locating method

ABSTRACT

A printing locator and method for a printing system having a roll on which dies are to be placed individually, including a locating mechanism movable axially of the roll for selecting an axial position on the roll. The locating mechanism is movable into position where a guide member extension attached thereto engages the surface of the roll at a selected circumferential location on the roll. The guide member is provided with an indicator identifying the selected axial location so an individual die can be abutted up against the guide member in proper axial and circumferential position on the roll.

United States Patent 13,594,910

[72] inventor Alfred Ross 5 References Cited ChiCflgO, T E T pp No-796,034 UNITED S AT 5 P EN S b 3 Bl'OVVn i i 4 v i [451, Patented July27.197] 2,104.553 1/1938 Clayboum 33/1845 [73] Assignee RoyalContinental Box Com any Primary ExaminerWi|liam D. Martin, Jr.

Attorney-Dressler, Goldsmith, Clement & Gordon ABSTRACT: A printinglocator and method for a printing system having a roll on which dies areto be placed individually, including a locating mechanism movableaxially of [54] DILLOCATING METHOD the roll for selecting an axialposition on the roll. 'l'he locating mechanism is movable into positionwhere a guide member 4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

extension attached thereto engages the surface of the roll at a [5'2]U.S.Cl 33/1845, selected circumferential location on the roll. The guide33/76 R, 101/216 101/382 R, lOl/DlG. 12 member is provided with anindicator identifying the selected 1 int. Cl B4lb 1/00 axial location soan individual die can be abutted up against [50] Fleld of Search33/1845. the guide member in proper axial and circumferential positionon the roll.

PATENTED JUL 2 1 ran SHEET 1 UP 2 INVENTOR Qg/WQJZ S6141, Y pLi/ W/MATTORNEYS DIE-LOCATING METHOD BACKGROUND OF INVENTION In my copendingapplication Ser. No. 796,076 filed Feb. 3,

t 1969, now abandoned, there is disclosed and claimed a printing systemand method for printing in which individual dies may be selectively andreadily attached to a printing roll, for example, of a printed slotterapparatus of the type used in corrugated paperboard printing.

As explained in my copending application Ser. No. 796,076, existingrotary presses, such as those used in the corrugated paperboard printingindustry require substantial setup tie, utilize trail-and-err" diealignment procedures and generally produce fairly low-quality printing.

With the printing system of my copending application, there is provideda system in which the dies may be flexibly and quickly mounted on aprinting roll and in which they may be accurately positioned on the rollwithout premounting all of the dies on a single backing sheet.

As disclosed therein, one method of accurately mounting the dies on theroll with flexibility is to provide the roll with built-in indicators,such as crosshatched grid lines so that the dies may be located relativeto the grid lines and accurately and quickly positioned on the printingroll.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, there isprovided a device to facilitate the positioning of a die on a printingroll without the need of scribing the roll or providing indicia on thesurface thereof. This eliminates the extra expense involved in soworking the surface of the roll.

The location ofadie on a printing roll is specified bothcircumferentially and axially, thereby giving a point of intersectionwhich defines the position of the die. By utilizing dies in which thecharacters are equally and uniformly spaced from all the edges of thedie, the periphery of the die can be used to locate the die on theprinting roll. For this purpose, the periphery of the die is providedwith indicators or marks bisecting each of the die edges. Utilization ofthese marks can facilitate location of the die simply by aligning themarks with appropriate indicia on the press. When utilizing a scribedprinting roll having checkered or crosshatched indicia thereon,it isnecessary to align both the side the top and bottom die locator markswith the appropriate lines on the roll to properly position and orientthe die.

Since, for example, the dies are magnetically adhered to the printingroll, once they are placed thereon, it is not easy to adjust theirposition. It is highly desirably, therefore, to quickly orient andproperly position the die before its entire back surface comes incontact with the drum and adheres thereto.

The die locator of the present invention facilitate this properorientation and location by utilizing only a single center scribe markon the die to properly position and orient the die both axially andcircumferentially on the printing roll. This quick and rapid positioningof the die is effected without modifying the surface of the roll andresults in such accurate positioning of the dies that a production runcan be commenced immediately upon the placement of the dies in theirselected positions.

The die locator incorporates a support rod that extends across the widthof the printing roll, which rod is provided with a plurality of axialposition indicia. Slidably mounted on the support rod is a dievlocatingmechanism. The die-locating mechanism may be provided with awindow through which the indicia on the support rod can be read and isrotatably supported on the rod between a die-locating position and aretracted or idle position.

In order to properly position a die, the die-locating mechanism isprovided with an extension which engages the surface 'of the roll whenin the indicia reading position. This extension is provided with ascribe line aligned with a cross hair in the window, if such isprovided, and, therefore, with the indicia being read. If a window isnot used, the scribe line is aligned with an edge of the locatingmechanism which is juxtaposed over the selected indicia.

In order to properly position the die, the desired circumferentialposition is selected by rotating the roll until the edge of theextension when the die-locating mechanism is in its indicia-readingposition contacts the roll at the selected circumferential location ofthe upper edge of the die. The upper edge may be used since the desiredposition of the characters is known, and since the characters on the dieare equally spaced from the die edges.

After so positioning the roll, the die-locating mechanism is moved alongthe support rod until it is positioned in the appropriate axiallocations as indicated by alignment, either of a crosshair in the viewwindow or of one edge of the mechanism with the selected indicia on thesupport rod with the die-locating mechanism in its down position withthe edge of its extension in contact with the roll. The upper edge ofthe die is abutted against the extension with the center mark in theedge of the die aligned with the scribe mark in the extension and withthe upper edge of the die abutting the lower edge of the extension. Thedie is immediately dropped into place and is properly located.

Thus, it can be seen that there is provided in accordance with thepresent invention in combination with a printing system in which diesare mounted individually and directly on a printing roll, a device andmethod for quickly and rapidly and accurately positioning individualdies in their selected position directly on a printing roll.

Numerous other advantages and features of the present invention willbecome readily apparent from the following detailed description of theinvention and the various embodiments thereof, from the claims, and fromthe accompanying drawings in which each and every detail is shown fullyand completely disclosed as part of this specification, in which likereference numerals refer to like parts, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a typical printer slotter with the dielocator in place;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the die locating mechanism inits idle position;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view, including a partial view of the printingroll, of the die-locating mechanism in its operative position;

FIG. 4 is a front view, partially in section, showing the dielocatingmechanism when used to position a die;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along lines 5-5 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is an exploded view of the components of the dielocatingmechanism.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to the drawings, there is shown inFIG. 1 a diagrammatic perspective view of a suitable printing press 10including a die locator 12. The press 10 typically has a printing roll14 and a backup roll 16 between which passes the corrugated paperboardmaterial which is to be printed. In presses in which the die locator 12of the present invention is particularly advantageous, the dies 18, asshown in FIG. I are mounted individually directly on the printing roll14, rather than being premounted on a backing sheet which is thenattached around the roll. Thus, it is imperative to find some meansand'method to quickly and rapidly and accurately position the dies 18 onthe printing roll 14.

One embodiment of such a die locator 12 includes a transverse supportrod 20 having indicia 22 thereon utilized to properly identify theposition at which a die 18 is to be located axially along the printingroll 14. Slidably mounted on the support rod is a die-locating mechanism24.

This mechanism 24 is designed to slide along the support rod 20 until acrosshair in a view window 28 therein is aligned with the selectedposition indicia 22 on the support rod 20. The view window 28 is formedin a cylindrical member 30 which is rotatably mounted on an intermediatemember 32 keyed to the support rod and slidably mounted thereon. A pairof springs 34 biases the outer view member relative to the intermediatemember 32 to an idle position (FIG. 2) wherein a die-locating extensionand guide member 36 is normally kept away from the surface of printingroll 14 to avoid interference therewith. A pair of end rings 38 encasesprings 34 and maintain accurate position of the outer rotatable member30 with respect to the intermediate slidable member 32.

In positioning a die 18, the mechanism 24 is initially posi' tionedeither at the center or along one end of the printing roll 14 and theroll incrementally rotated until the lower edge 40 of the extension 36is aligned with selected circumferential indicia (not shown). The axialposition ofa die 18 on the roll 14 is selected by sliding thedie-positioning mechanism 24 along the support rod 20 until thecrosshair 3 in the view window 28 is aligned with a selected one of theposition indicia 22 In order to keep the view window clean, the outermember 30 is normally biased into its idle position wherein the aperture28' in the slidable intermediate member 32 is covered by the outermember 30.

Alternatively, the axial position of a die 18 may be selected by slidingthe die-positioning mechanism 27 along the support rod until one of itstwo ends 46 is aligned with a selected one of the position indicia 22.This alternative embodiment is particularly useful since it eliminatesthe necessity of keeping a view window free from ink and dirt.

When reading the position indicia 22 the outer member 30 is rotatedfowardly until the two apertures 28, 28' are aligned. A scribe mark 42on the die-locating extension 36 is aligned with the crosshair in theview window 28. If the alternative embodiment is used, the die locatorextension 36 extends beyond either end of the positioning mechanism 24and scribe marks 42' on the extension 36 are aligned with each end ofthemechanism 24.

When the die-locating mechanism 24 is at its selected position, asindicated by juxtaposition of the crosshair with the appropriate indicia22, or, alternatively, juxtaposition of the ends 46 with the indicia 22,the outer member 30 is fully rotated until the extension 36 contacts theroll 14. The selected die is abutted against the edge 40 of theextension 36, thereby automatically properly positioning the diecircumferentially. A center mark or notch 44 provided in all dies isaligned with the scribe mark 42 on the extension 36 to properly alignthe die axially along the printing roll.

With the upper edge of the die 18 so positioned, the die is allowed toengage the surface of the printing roll 14 which typically is a magneticprinting roll that holds the entire rear surface of the die 18 incontact with the roll. The positioning mechanism 24 is then allowed toreturn to its idle position under control of the bias springs 34 and thedie 18 is in position ready for printing.

it will be readily observed from the foregoing detailed description ofthe invention and of the illustrated embodiments thereof that numerousvariations and modifications may be effected without departing from thetrue spirit and scope of the novel concepts and principles of thisinvention.

What I claim is:

l. A method for properly locating individual dies on a printing rollincluding the steps of selecting an axial location along the roll byreference to indicia representative thereof, selecting a circumferentialposition around the roll by reference to indicia representative thereof,moving a locating mechanism axially along the roll until aligned with aselected one of the axial representative indicia, rotating said locatingmechanism to contact the roll with an edge of a guide member extensionparallel to the axis of the roll, rotating the roll relative to theguide member until said guide member edge is superposed on a selectedone of said circumferential representing indicia, and placing a die onthe roll with one edge of the die abutted against said guide member edgeto effect proper circumferential positioning and with a reselected markon the die aligned with a point on said gui e member representative ofthe selected one of said axial indicia to effect proper axialpositioning of the die.

2. The method of claim l including the steps of sliding said locatingmechanism along a carrying member disposed adjacent to the roll andhaving said axial indicia thereon until said mechanism is aligned with aselected one of the indicia on said member.

3. A method for properly locating the position of individual dies on asurface adapted to be used as a printing roll including the steps ofselecting an axial location along said surface by reference to indiciarepresentative thereof, selecting a circumferentiai position along saidsurface by reference to indicia representative thereof, moving alocating mechanism axially relative to said axial indicia until alignedwith a selected one of said axial indicia, rotating said locatingmechanism to contact the surface with an edge ofa guide memberextension, moving the surface relative to the guide member until saidguide member edge is superposed on a selected one of saidcircumferential representing indicia, and placing a die on the surfacewith one edge of the die abutted against said guide member edge toeffect proper positioning and with a preselected mark on the die alignedwith a point on said guide member representative of the selected one ofsaid axial indicia to effect proper axial positioning of the die.

4. A method for properly locating individual dies on a surface adaptedto be used as a printing roll including the steps of selecting an axiallocation along said surface by reference to indicia representativethereof, selecting a circumferential position along said surface byreference to indicia representative thereof, moving a locating mechanismrelative to one of said position representative indicia until alignedwith a selected one of said position representative indicia, rotatingsaid locating mechanism to contact the surface with an edge of a guidemember extension, moving the surface relative to the guide member untilsaid guide member edge is superposed on a selected one of said otherposition representing indicia, and placing a die on the roll with oneedge of the die abutted against said guide member edge to effect properpositioning thereof with respect to either of said indicia and with apreselected mark on the die aligned with a point on said guide memberrepresentative of the selected one of the other of said indicia toeffect proper positioning of the die.

1. A method for properly locating individual dies on a printing rollincluding the steps of selecting an axial location along the roll byreference to indicia representative thereof, selecting a circumferentialposition around the roll by reference to indicia representative thereof,moving a locating mechanism axially along the roll until aligned with aselected one of the axial representative indicia, rotating said locatingmechanism to contact the roll with an edge of a guide member extensionparallel to the axis of the roll, rotating the roll relative to theguide member until said guide member edge is superposed on a selectedone of said circumferential representing indicia, and placing a die onthe roll with one edge of the die abutted against said guide member edgeto effect proper circumferential positioning and with a preselected markon the die aligned with a point on said guide member representative ofthe selected one of said axial indicia to effect proper axialpositioning of the die.
 2. The method of claim 1 including the steps ofsliding said locating mechanism along a carrying member disposedadjacent to the roll and having said axial indicia thereon until saidmechanism is aligned with a selected one of the indicia on said member.3. A method for properly locating the position of individual dies on asurface adapted to be used as a printing roll including the steps ofselecting an axial location along said surface by reference to indiciarepresentative thereof, selecting a circumferential position along saidsurface by reference to indicia representative thereof, moving alocating mechanism axially relative to said axial indicia until alignedwith a selected one of said axial indicia, rotating said locatingmechanism to contact the surface with an edge of a guide memberextension, moving the surface relative to the guide member until saidguide member edge is superposed on a selected one of saidcircumferential representing indicia, and placing a die on the surfacewith one edge of the die abutted against said guide member edge toeffect proper positioning and with a preselected mark on the die alignedwith a point on said guide member representative of the selected one ofsaid axial indicia to effect proper axial positioning of the die.
 4. Amethod for properly locating individual dies on a surface adapted to beused as a printing roll including the steps of selecting an axiallocation along said surface by reference to indicia representativethereof, selecting a circumferential position along said surface byreference to indicia representative thereof, moving a locating mechanismrelative to one of said position representative indicia until alignedwith a selected one of said position representative indicia, rotatingsaid locating mechanism to contact the surface with an edge of a guidemember extension, moving the surface relative to the guide member untilsaid guide member edge is superposed on a selected one of said otherposition representing indicia, and placing a die on the roll with oneedge of the die abutted against said guide member edge to effect properpositioning thereof with respect to either of said indicia and with apreselected mark on the die aligned with a point on said guide memberrepresentative of the selected one of the other of said indicia toeffect proper positioning of the die.